Bill, Ben and Derek
by DonaldDouglasandToby6
Summary: Derek never had good luck in the China Clay Works; first his first day, now this. In this story, Bill and Ben play a trick on Derek, and Dennis is less than thrilled to take him to the Dieselworks.
1. Bill, Ben and Derek

Bill and Ben love playing tricks on other engines, especially Derek and Timothy, because Derek can be a bit vulnerable while Timothy is nearly as gulliable as Paxton.

One November morning, the China Clay Works was very busy, but Edward and BoCo had to take care of passenger duties, so Derek was placed at the Works.

"Now I don't want any tricks," he said as he entered the Works.

Bill and Ben giggled.

"Oh of course Derek. I'm sure." said Ben.

Derek eyed the twins suspiciously and oiled over to Timothy.

"I'd be careful around them," worried Timothy, "Last night they pushed me under the hopper and said I was sleeppuffing last night."

Derek chuckled.

"It's alright, I know them fairly well now."

"Lets hope so," thought Timothy as the engines set to work.

Derek worked hard all morning, bringing trucks down to the harbour and back.

But Bill and Ben were being their typical cheeky selves.

"Hey Timothy, think fast!" and Ben bumped the trucks into the oil-burning engine.

"Hey!" cried Timothy.

Bill and Ben laughed.

"Sorry... not!" said Ben.

Derek arrived with some empty trucks.

"That's enough you two. We don't need you two ruining the business." said Derek sternly.

Bill and Ben groaned and puffed away.

They were very disappointed.

"Well, if we can't have fun with Timothy," decided Bill, "Lets have fun with Derek."

"Yeah! BoCo isn't here anyway." Ben agreed, so the twins started to make up a plan.

By the time noon came, Bill and Ben had the plan set up.

"He still has teething troubles," Bill said, "so I suggest we get him to pull a long train to the Docks! He won't be able to pull and he'll get stuck!"

"Brilliant!" giggled Ben.

In the main area of the China Clay Works, Timothy had three lines of trucks, one for Bill, one for Ben, and one for Derek.

"Alright Bill, pretend you are ill so Derek can take your trucks," said Ben.

Bill agreed and started coughing.

"Oh my Bill, are you alright?" asked Timothy worriedly, "You don't look so good."

"I'm ill," Bill wheezed.

"Oh dear," said Timothy, "The manager must make new arrangements!" and he went off to tell the manager about Bill.

When he came back, the manager had already made up the plan.

"Derek, I'm afraid you'll have to take Bill's trucks as well as your own. Can you do it?" he asked.

Derek gulped, unsure.

"I suppose so sir. I'll try my hardest."

"Good," said the manager, "Timothy, take Bill to the shed."

"Yes sir!"

Bill secretly winked at Ben as he was shunted into the shed.

Derek set off with his load, but no sooner had he left the clay pits had he felt his engine grow hot.

"Ugh driver, I'm not feeling so well!"

"Come on ol' boy, you have to keep on going."

"I'll try!" promised Derek, but the load was very heavy, and Derek had a hard time pulling.

Derek was just about to round the bend to the Docks when black smoke flew from his engine.

"Oh no! I feel all hot and bothered!" coughed Derek and his driver braked.

The guard noticed this and walked out of the brakevan.

"What's the problem?" asked the guard.

"Our engine broke down," explained Derek's driver, "I'll call for help."

He called the Docks to send an engine to help.

At the Docks, BoCo was dropping off passengers.

"This is the life," he said cheerfully.

"Argh, I can agree to that matey!" said Salty.

Suddenly BoCo's driver's cell phone rang.

"Just a minute," he said and he answered.

"Yeah? Oh no, Derek! We'll be right over." and he hung up.

"Derek broke down near the entrance to the Docks, BoCo. We have to go and help him."

"What about my passengers?" asked BoCo worriedly.

"Don't worry about those. Edward can take them, now lets hurry up!" and BoCo hurried away.

"Good riddance," muttered Cranky.

BoCo soon arrived where Derek was coughing at.

"Derek, why do you have such a long train?" asked BoCo, surprised, "You're not supposed to take that long of a train."

"I know," sighed Derek, "But Bill was ill at the China Clay Works so I had to take his trucks as well."

BoCo grew concerned.

"Bill and Ben... Hmm, I get the feeling Bill just pretended to be ill so he could get you into trouble."

Derek was surprised.

"Oh no!"

Later, BoCo turned out to be right.

Some workmen were inspecting Bill to find nothing wrong.

"Your engine has pretended to be ill." they said crossly to the manager.

"Oh great..." groaned the manager and he sternly walked up to Bill and Ben.

"Uh oh," said Ben worriedly.

"Bill, I am very displeased with you. You pretended to be ill so Derek could break down!"

Bill gulped.

Ben was relieved and started to puff away.

"Oh no you don't!" said the manager, "You two are twins, so I'm sure you had something to do with it too."

Ben was cross.

"It was your fault Bill!"

"No!"

"Yes!"

"Just be quiet," cried the manager, "I'll lecture you more later. In the meantime, stay in the shed while Timothy and BoCo handle the work themselves."

Bill and Ben were very sad indeed.

Derek was on a siding at Wellsworth, waiting to be taken to the Dieselworks; Edward had placed him there until an engine was avaliable to take him to Vicarstown.

Gordon rushed by with the express, surprising Derek.

"Bye bye, little Diesel!" Gordon called.

Derek sighed.

"Oh dear, I'm going to stay on this siding for ages!"

Suddenly a Diesel horn rolled in the distance.

"Who's that?" wondered Derek.

He soon found out.

Dennis oiled along the line with a goods train full of parts for the Dieselworks.

"Bother," he grumbled, "This is heavy. The coupling is too tight, can't you loosen it? Geez, these trucks need to be in better condition!"

The stationmaster flagged Dennis down at the station.

"What do you want?" spluttered Dennis.

"Derek needs to be taken to the Dieselworks, and you're going there. We can multitask, shall we say." said the stationmaster.

Dennis looked at Derek and scowled.

"The one with the teething troubles? Pah! I've got enough work as it is without hauling that bulky thing around all the time!"

The stationmaster sighed, "Just do it, will you?"

"Of course," said the driver and Dennis was uncoupled from his train.

He protested as he was coupled up to Derek, and Derek ended up between Dennis and the train.

"Oh, please do get going," said Derek, "I need my engine fixed quickly."

Dennis scowled as he exited Wellsworth, and started up Gordon's Hill.

With Derek's weight and his laziness, it was hard work getting to the top of the hill.

"Ugh, you're heavy," Dennis complained, but soon he was able to get over the hill.

"Wee!" cried Dennis as he and Derek raced down the other side with the train.

"Slow down!" cried Derek.

"Pah!" snorted Dennis, "That's work, and work isn't my philosophy!"

Derek was scared.

"Oh no, we're going to derail!"

Dennis rolled his eyes as they raced through Maron, and onto the viaduct.

Dennis and Derek soon arrived at Cronk to pick up a truck of machinery.

"Bother that Derek," Dennis thought, "I've got to rid of him somehow."

He thought up a plan, and suddenly got it.

Dennis started coughing.

"What's wrong?" asked his driver.

"I can't start..." groaned Dennis.

The driver knew Dennis' lazy ways, but was surprised to find that Dennis wouldn't budge.

"Oh no, now we need an engineer..." and he telephoned for help.

At Wellsworth, BoCo was resting in the yard when the call came.

"Apparently Dennis refuses to move with Derek," sighed BoCo's driver, "We'll have to go and help."

BoCo was cross.

"How many times are engines going to fake breakdowns?" he spluttered, but he soon went up the hill to give Derek and Dennis a push.

"Bother.." he grumbled.

When he arrived, Dennis was faking coughs and ignored his driver's commands.

"Come on, move!" growled the driver.

Dennis just rolled his eyes.

BoCo was cross as he arrived.

"Dennis, you have caused delays," BoCo sighed.

Dennis chuckled.

"Doesn't matter at all." he said.

BoCo bumped the brakevan and pushed Derek and Dennis, as well as the machine parts to the Dieselworks.

At the Dieselworks, Den and Dart were waiting.

"Where were you Dennis?" asked Dart crossly.

"Yeah, we've been waiting. Well, uh, what I mean is..."

"What Den means to say is that we've been waiting for hours."

"We've had multiple stops," explained BoCo, "Derek needed to be repaired so he was coupled up at Wellsworth, but then Dennis pretended to break down at Cronk, so I had to come and get him."

Den and Dart looked to each other.

"Oh." was all Den said.

The Dieselworks manager came storming out crossly.

"I will notify your controller," he said sternly, "Your laziness is too much to bear at the moment. BoCo, bring Derek and the machinery in so we can have him repaired."

"Yes sir," said BoCo.

At the China Clay Works that evening, Edward, BoCo, and Timothy all gave Bill and Ben lectures about how Derek is a useful engine, and works hard.

"And," finished Marion, "He's reliable, unlike you two who mess aronud all the time."

Bill and Ben hadn't paid any attention to any of the engines who lectured though.

They yawned.

"Next time you prepare a speech, try and be interesting." said Ben.

"Don't you realize what you've done? Now you two have to do more work." said BoCo sternly.

"You don't miss Derek at all?" asked Timothy.

"Oh please, he's just a clutz, breaking down all the time," snorted Bill.

"We don't miss him at all." agreed Ben.

But that's another story...


	2. Derek Comes Home

Bill and Ben were working a lot more than usual since Derek's accident, and BoCo made sure they never played a single trick.

Bill and Ben quickly got bored.

"Ugh, all we do is shunt silly trucks around the Clay Pits!" complained Ben.

"Well, it's your own fault," scoffed BoCo, "You two are the ones who got Derek in the accident."

Bill rolled his eyes as Ben bumped some trucks into a siding.

"It's getting lonely too," Bill noted, "You're barely around and Marion and Timothy are in a deeper part of the China Clay Works."

BoCo raised an eyebrow.

"Are you implying you miss Derek?" BoCo chuckled.

Bill and Ben became defensive.

"Of course not!" snorted Ben, "Derek's a fuddy duddy!"

"Yeah...what he said!" said Bill.

BoCo rolled his eyes and oiled away with a train of trucks.

At the Dieselworks, Derek was waiting to be tested so he could get back to the Wellsworth Branch.

"Is my engine alright Den?"

"I think so... Um, what I mean is... erm..."

"What he means is that your engine should be fixed, but first you're going to be tested." said Dart.

"Oh joy..." sighed Derek impatiently.

"You'll go home soon," assured his driver, but Derek still felt very lonely indeed.

He waited as the workmen turned on his engine.

"Come on ol' boy," said his driver, "Lets test you and go to the station and back."

"If you say so," said Derek, unsure, and he soon left the Dieselworks.

At Vicarstown, Murdoch was arriving with a train of passengers.

"These passengers are constantly complaining!" he cried as he pulled in.

"It's not all bad," assured Gordon, who was there with the express, "At least you're helping people get to their destinations."

"Yes, but they're so noisy!" cried Murdoch.

Suddenly Derek oiled in, as slowly as he could.

"What are you doing here?" spluttered Gordon.

"I had to get repaired at the Dieselworks." explained Derek, "I'm testing to see if my engine is still faulty."

"I bet it is," snickered Gordon.

Murdoch shot him a glare.

"I hope not," replied Derek, ignoring Gordon's tone, "I need to keep Bill and Ben in order. They're probably tearing up the place."

"Those demons..." grumbled Gordon and he set off for Barrow-in-Furness.

The China Clay Works was in a frenzy.

There was a big order of China Clay that needed to be taken to the Docks at sunset, but Bill and Ben had barely even had a fourth ready.

"By this rate, the order will be very late," sighed BoCo.

Bill bumped five more trucks into a line.

"These make a fourth," he smirked.

BoCo sighed, "You two need to take this seriously. If only Derek was here, he'd make this work a lot faster."

"You can say that again," panted Timothy, "I just came back from the Docks!"

Bill looked to Ben.

"Derek's a fuddy duddy," Ben snorted, "He's hopeless."

But secretly Bill and Ben began to miss Derek.

At the Dieselworks, Derek had returned.

"So he's ready now?" asked his driver.

"Lets hope so," said the Dieselworks manager, "There's a big order of China clay needed, and it cannot be late."

"Come on ol' boy, we've no time to lose!" and the driver started him up.

"Alright sir," said Derek, but he was a bit worried he'd break down again.

"Driver, I get the feeling-"

"Don't worry about it Derek, you'll be fine."

Derek brightened up as he headed towards the Wellsworth Branch.

At the China Clay Works, the big shipment was only half done.

"My buffers are hurting!" complained Ben.

"And my axles are aching!" cried Bill.

"BoCo went off on the Main Line," said Timothy, "so you two will have to work twice as hard to get the shipment finished."

"Oh great," groaned Bill.

"Maybe Derek will be here in time," suggested Ben.

"I doubt it," sighed Marion, who had just finished digging a bucketful of clay, "His engine is a mess I hear. It's going to be a while to fix it. By then it may be too late."

Bill and Ben groaned as they shunted their wheels off, biffing trucks.

"Do you miss Derek _now_?" asked Timothy.

Bill grunted in response, but Ben was too tired to say anything at all.

Derek approached Wellsworth.

At the station, BoCo was dropping off passengers.

"Derek!" he grinned, "Thank goodness! You must hurry, the twins need your help!"

"I'm on my way!" cried Derek and he scurried through Wellsworth Junction onto the branch line.

"I hope he makes it in time," thought BoCo.

The sun was beginning to set, and the twins were nowhere near finished.

"Hurry up!" cried Marion, "This china clay-"

"I know!" cried Bill, "But we can only shunt so many trucks at once!"

"I understand," said Marion gravely, "But I don't think the manager will."

"I need more oil," cried Timothy and he came to a halt.

"That's just perfect," scowled Ben.

Suddenly a familiar horn sprang in the distance.

It echoed nearer and nearer.

"Is it?" asked Timothy.

"Could it be?" asked Bill.

"I think it is!" gasped Ben, "It's-"

"Hello, hello, it's me, Derek!"

Derek chuckled as he oiled in.

"I hear you four need some help."

"That's for sure," said Bill.

"First, we need you to help shunt these trucks." said Marion.

"But Derek can't shunt that fast." said Ben confusingly.

"Just watch me," laughed Derek and he began to shunt.

With Derek's help, the work indeed went by faster, and the sun hadn't completely set by the time they were finished.

"Hooray!" cried Timothy, who was now on a siding.

"Wow," said Derek, who was panting hard, "I've never shunted like that before."

"The Dieselworks did a fantastic job," grinned the manager, who was now walking up to him, "Glad to have you back ol' boy."

"It's good to be back." grinned Derek.

"Come on, lets get these trucks to the Docks." said Marion.

So Bill, Ben, and Derek heaved and hauled the China clay trucks on multiple trips from the Docks and back.

By the time they were finished, it was very dark indeed.

"Wow," panted Derek, "That was a lot of work."

"But you completed the task." said the manager, "and you did a great job. You are indeed a Really Useful engine."

Derek smiled.

His driver patted his cab encouragingly.

BoCo brought in an oil tanker for Timothy, and soon he was steaming again.

"Yes indeed," said Timothy, "Well done."

"Now, is there anything you want to say?" asked Marion to Bill and Ben.

Ben sighed.

"We're sorry Derek." he said quietly, "We were very wrong to trick you into breaking down."

"And?" asked Timothy.

"And... we missed you Derek." said Bill, "Welcome home."

Derek smiled.

"Ah, I missed you two rascals too."

Everybody laughed and were all very happy indeed that Derek had come home.


End file.
